Good morning and God bless you all.

The preaching text for today is Mark 10:13-16; Jesus receiving the little children. The sermon focus will be seeking the kingdom of God with a childlike faith so hence the opening prayer for worship was written with this text and theme in mind:

Holy Father; mighty and victorious; compassionate and merciful, we humbly come before you with all we are and all we have; for all we are is nothing compared to Your awesome holiness and all we have is insufficient because of our sin. We are stained with the dirtiness of ourselves that is self-seeking and self-glorifying. We are stained with pride. We are stained with complacency. We are stained with the fullness of this life that leads us to eat, drink and be merry without the thought that tomorrow we may die. But grant us a childlike faith to empty ourselves of ourselves and worship you with humility and awe. May the wonder of childlike faith not be lost on us as we praise Your awesome and holy name this morning. May we run to you as a skinned-knee, tear-soaked little child; running to the loving arms of mama and daddy; holding back nothing. May we embrace You and cling to You as my little girl clings to my neck in the midst of danger.  All praise and worship be to You, Oh God, our Rock, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

The Pastor -|—